What others think of Montana’s Home Front During World War II

“a wealth of new informationand many never-before-seen photographs ofMontana during the 1940s. The result is a verycomprehensive, fascinating account of how thestate’s population coped with the tragedy of a worldwide military conflict.” – Judith Shafter – State of the Arts

“you’ve got to see it for yourself but any history or travel enthusiast will be very pleased with the wealth of information in this book.” – Greg Wortman, Billings Examiner

“excellent for the wealth of Montana history contained within. A fascinating snapshot of civilian life during the war” – ebay member burnafterreading

Seventy years ago this month an invasion fleet loaded with U.S. Marines sailed towards the tiny Pacific island of Iwo Jima. The attack transport USS Missoula carried the men of the 28th Marines, including at least two Montanans, Louis Charles Charlo of Evaro Montana and PFC Donald Ruhl of Columbus, Montana. When the men of the 28th Regiment left the Missoula to board their landing craft, they took with them a small American flag that was destined to make history.

Louis Charlo was a member of the Salish tribe and a great-grandson of Chief Charlo. He enlisted in November 1943, one month after he turned 17, then trained at San Diego. He was serving as a BAR man with F Company on February 23, 1945 when he and three other men were sent to climb to the summit of 546-foot-high Mt. Suribachi.

Marine Louis Charlo

Expecting certain death, they instead found no resistance. They slid back down and reported to Lt. Colonel Chandler Johnson what they had found. Lt. Harold Schrier and a platoon of Easy Company were sent back up the mountain, where several men found a 20-foot piece of pipe, to which they lashed the flag taken from the USS Missoula. As they raised it over the island, Louis R. Lowery of Leatherneck Magazine snapped a photograph just before a Japanese grenade hit near him, breaking his camera, but leaving the film unhurt. According to the official Marine Corps account of this first flag-raising, Louis Charlo was one of the men in the photo, although others have disputed this. Decades after the flag-raising, another Marine claimed that it was he and not Charlo who was shown in the original photo, but there is little to substantiate his claim.

The first flag-raising on Iwo Jima

Since the small flag couldn’t be seen from afar, or perhaps because Lt. Colonel Johnson wanted to keep the flag for the 28th Marines, a second flag was raised over the island two hours later. The famous photo of this second flag-raising was flashed worldwide and won Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal a Pulitzer Prize. This image, the most famous photograph of World War II, became the logo for a three cent stamp (issued in June 1945), the logo for the
Seventh War Bond Drive, and as the inspiration for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, dedicated in 1954.
A catholic priest held a mass after Mt. Suribachi was captured. A photo taken during the mass showed Louis Charlo in the group. It was the last known photo of the man from Evaro. Charlo was killed in action on March 2, 1945, and his remains were returned to Montana in 1948. After extremely heavy casualties on both sides, Iwo Jima was finally secured on March 17.

Forty-two members of the legendary First Special Service Force, better known as the Devil’s Brigade, attended a ceremony in Washington DC on Feb. 3, 2015 to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. The First Special Service Force was a joint Canadian-American group of commandoes trained to drop behind enemy lines in occupied Norway during World War II. Fourteen of the attendees at the ceremony were Canadians.

Ski Training along the Continental Divide at Blossburg, Montana

When the mission to Norway was called off, the Forcemen were sent to assault the Japanese held island of Kiska in the Aleutians, then were sent to the mountains of Italy. In Italy they climbed the German held mountains of Monte La Difensa and Mount Radicosa.

A Devil’s Brigade outpost at Anzio.

During the landing at Anzio, the Forcemen mounted large-scale night raids into German territory, their faces blackened by shoe-polish. German soldiers, terrified by their commando tactics and night raids, dubbed them the “Black Devils.” They eventually led the Allied advance into Rome.

The First Special Service Force participated in the invasion of Southern France, but was disbanded December 5, 1944, with the Canadians returning to their own army.

The surviving members of the Devil’s Brigade who were unable to attend the ceremony in Washington will receive their Congressional Gold Medals at a ceremony in Helena during the summer of 2015. Stay tuned for more information.